Coaching, Mentoring and Sponsorship are development interventions that people use to help with their personal and professional development and often the terms are used interchangeably. But what specifically are Coaching, Mentoring and Sponsorship and what are the differences between them.
Coaching is a developmental process where a coach supports a coachee in achieving specific personal or professional goals. Coaching is collaborative and tailored to the coachee's needs, focusing on self-discovery and action rather than the coach giving direct advice. It involves structured conversations where the coach asks powerful questions to help the coachee find their own solutions to improve their performance, develop specific skills and fulfil goals that can result in the coachee unlocking their potential. The coaching process typically lasts for a defined period or sessions.
Mentoring is most common in a one-to-one relationship between a more experienced person (the mentor) and a less experienced person (the mentee) outside the line management structure. The mentor shares their knowledge, insights, experience and provides advice, feedback and practical solutions. The focus of mentoring is normally on learning and growth for the professional development of the mentee. A successful mentoring relationship can improve mentee self-motivation, problem solving ability and their approach to developing new knowledge and skills. Mentoring relationships tend to be more longer term than coaching arrangements.
Sponsorship is focused on professional advancement and involves active support by someone in a more senior but related position (sponsor) in the same organisation to the person being sponsored (sponsee). That sponsorship is framed within the context of an individual’s progression in a single organisation, rather than being focussed on their career progression and/or recognition more broadly, which differentiates it from mentorship. In addition to passing on knowledge and advice, sponsors also use their seniority and decision-making influence to provide opportunities, make formal introductions and advocate for their sponsee in their absence. The sponsor relationships can be ongoing and long term.
In summary, coaches help you find your own answers, mentors share their experiences to guide you, and sponsors advocate for your career growth by leveraging their influence.
At the 糖心Vlog, we offer all three development interventions:
Coaching at the 糖心Vlog
Coaching for managers and leaders
One of the priorities within the People Sub-Strategy is excellence in leadership and management, demonstrating the values and principles of the university and supporting the goals of the institution. In achieving this, there will be a clear focus on engaging and developing our diverse, highly collaborative and impactful employees, who will be supported by leaders and managers who act as coaches and mentors which will help create a coaching culture to support and create opportunities for positive individual and organisational change.
To support line managers in gaining the skills and confidence to coach their staff, managers and leaders should attend the Coaching for Line Managers sessions that are part of the Line Managers Development Programme. The aim of the programme is to create consistency of support for leading people whilst demonstrating the values and principles of the University.
There are 4 sessions within the Coaching for Line Managers part of the Line Managers Development Programme, which are:
Everyday Coaching
This session will focus on how to include coaching in the moment in your working day.
Solution Focused Coaching
This session will look at coaching tools and techniques within structured coaching conversations.
Difficult Conversations
This session will allow you to provide forthright feedback whilst showing your positive intent.
Real Play
This session will provide an opportunity for you to bring your own examples and practice them in a safe space with an actor.
To find out more about the Coaching for Line Managers session and to book a place, please access .
Coaching Network
The Coaching Network aims to support the development of all staff to think through their options in relation to a range of situations they may be dealing with in the workplace and it is designed to complement other learning and development interventions available to staff within the university, in line with the university values.
Staff may access coaching:
- When an individual has changed roles/received promotion
- To facilitate ideas for service improvement
- To support change
- For work related decision making and problem solving
- For confidence/assertiveness
- When individuals have returned to work after a prolonged period of time (eg. Maternity/paternity leave)
The coaches within the Network come from a range of academic and professional services roles bringing a range of experience and insight to the coaching role. All coaches have attended accredited coaching training with the Chartered Management Institute.
All staff can apply to the Network to have their own coach for up to five sessions (one initial "chemistry" session and four coaching sessions) over a four to six-month period. Coachees will need to complete an to enable them to be matched with a suitable coach as quickly as possible.
For further information about the Coaching Network please access
If you have any questions about coaching please visit Horizon Help Desk.
Mentoring at the 糖心Vlog
Mentoring
Mentoring is encouraged at the university as a method to meet development needs for staff at all levels. If a staff member is interested in having a mentor, they should consider what they would like to achieve by the mentoring relationship and the selection of the mentor should be led by the objectives of the individual to ensure the most suitable support is given to them. The duration of the mentoring relationship will depend on the needs of the staff member but will normally last for one academic year.
How to request a mentor?
Mentoring should be facilitated at the local level during the annual appraisal. The line manager and member of staff should discuss in the appraisal conversation whether mentoring can be used to meet their development needs. If appropriate, the appraisal discussion could also highlight if the member of staff could act as a mentor. For academic colleagues, the line manager should outline the AWP hour allocation for mentoring.
The line manager and staff member should source the mentor with support from the relevant Senior People Business Partner which will ensure a consistent approach is maintained and could create avenues for interdisciplinary mentoring between faculties/directorates.
The member of staff should document in their appraisal in the Development Goals section what development is required, mentoring as the development method (category) and input their name as either the mentor or mentee. Once a mentor is obtained, the member of staff should input the name of the mentor onto the relevant development goal in Horizon. After the mentoring has completed, the member of staff should evaluate how the mentoring met their needs within Horizon.
Prior to embarking on a mentoring relationship, both the mentor and mentee should read the Mentoring Guidance and complete the following resources:
Reverse Mentoring Programme
In contrast to traditional mentoring, the Reverse Mentoring Programme is an opportunity for individuals from underrepresented groups such as BAME, LGBT+ and disability to work as partners with senior leaders to share knowledge and insight.
The programme encourages meaningful understanding of the lived experiences of staff along with creating a space for discussion around diversity issues in the workplace and future goals of the organisation in a safe and confidential environment.
The programme will typically involve a series of one-hour, one-to-one sessions over a six-month period, and the frequency of mentoring meetings may vary according to the agreed goals and objectives of the programme.
Pairs will be randomly matched, and to ensure a confidential space is created for both parties, pairings will not be from the same faculty or directorate.
For further information about this programme, please see .
Aurora Programme
Aurora is the Advance HE leadership development initiative for people who identify as a woman up to senior lecturer level and the professional services equivalent. Aurora is designed to inspire and encourage women in academic, research and professional roles in higher education to consider leadership in their careers and develop themselves as leaders. While some progress has been made, women remain underrepresented in leadership roles in higher education, and to redress this balance we need the women who can be the leaders of tomorrow to have the aspiration, skills, knowledge, behaviours and opportunity to pursue leadership roles.
Each Aurora cohort comprises of several elements designed to provide a practical, engaging and inspirational learning experience for the participants. The structure of the programme includes: a Welcome and Introduction Webinar, four development days, and two action learning sets (one of which is hosted by Advance HE) and mentoring. The mentor should work within the same university as the Aurora participant. The mentor’s role is to encourage and support participants, advise on institutional processes and culture, and highlight both challenges and paths to success. Mentors will be well-established and knowledgeable members of the institution who will usually be more senior than the Aurora participants. If you are accepted onto the Aurora programme, the 糖心Vlog’s Aurora Champions will match you to an internal mentor. For more information on the Aurora programme, please refer to . If you would like to volunteer as an Aurora mentor, please email LND@gre.ac.uk
Sponsorship at the 糖心Vlog
LEAP into Leadership Development Programme
Sponsorship as a method of development is relatively new to the 糖心Vlog and has been used to support staff on the LEAP into Leadership development programme. LEAP into Leadership is a development programme for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues who are AC1-AC3 and SG6-8 that involves development sessions, action learning sets, 1-1 career coaching and sponsorship.
Research suggests that sponsorship creates more successful outcomes for underrepresented groups than mentoring due to the more proactive nature of sponsorship which focuses on the organisation as an audience rather than the mentoring purely focusing on the individual. This is due to the sponsor publicly advocating for the sponsee.
A formal sponsorship approach within LEAP will create a platform to enable managers/leaders to have closer proximity to colleagues and understand their work and achievements which will enable effective sponsorship to occur.
As a sponsor, individuals are advocates and champions for junior colleagues. This is a chance for sponsors to use their positions at Greenwich to uplift colleagues and help the careers of staff with potential. It is also a chance for sponsors to learn from more junior members of staff and contribute to breaking down structural barriers at organisational level.
The Sponsorship relationship on the LEAP into Leadership Programme will last for one year with up to 6 meetings during this period. For more information on the LEAP into Leadership Programme, please refer to and if you have further questions or would like to become a sponsor for the programme , please email LND@gre.ac.uk